Black Sludge and Ornaments
by elmorox35
Summary: Cecil and Carlos spend their first Christmas together. It wasn't quite what Carlos was expecting, but he was happy nonetheless.


A/N: So I decided that I would write a Christmas fic for Night Vale. I love adorable and fluffy Cecilos fics so I decided that I would give it a go. I hope I do it justice. This is only a one shot so read and enjoy Please tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Night Vale or its by-products.

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Carlos sighed happily as he took a sip of his hot chocolate in his Night Vale Community Radio mug. Normally he would be drinking coffee in the morning, but Cecil insisted that because it was the Christmas season, he should be drinking hot chocolate. Carlos wasn't arguing though. He missed drinking hot chocolate by the fire while watching the snow fall. Cecil was seated beside him on the couch drinking his own cup of hot chocolate.

"So what exactly do you guys do for Christmas here in Night Vale?" Carlos asked his boyfriend. Cecil tilted his head in thought.

"It's pretty much the same as everywhere else. We get Christmas trees and decorate them with ornaments just like everyone else." Carlos raised an eyebrow. Seriously? Christmas was normal for them? "One year, old woman Josie gave me the loveliest ornament! It was a gall bladder! It was so festive and looked very nice next to my pancreas ornament."

And there was the strange Night Vale twist. They decorated their trees with organs and body parts. Carlos looked over at Cecil and noticed the nostalgic grin that was painted on his face. Though the morbid tradition made Carlos uncomfortable, he was glad that it made Cecil happy.

"So these… ornaments… are they real?"

"Oh goodness no! That would be horrible! Could you imagine the mess that the innards would make? Blood is extremely difficult to get out of carpets! I thought you were supposed to be the smart one Carlos!" Cecil teased. Carlos laughed and rested his head on Cecil's shoulder. "Actually I was hoping, now that you're living here, if you would like to help me decorate the tree this year?"

"Of course! I would love to help you!" Cecil smiled and took another sip of his hot chocolate.

_A week later… _

Carlos was wearing a big wool sweater and his sweatpants. He loved Christmas sweaters. Apparently Cecil did too, but his sweater was purple with white polka dots instead of red and green striped like his was. Christmas tunes were playing on Cecil's CD player and they were drinking fancy champagne. Cecil was currently searching through his closet for his boxes of ornaments. Carlos was currently setting up the tree in Cecil's living room. Cecil always purchased a real tree. He enjoyed having his living room smell like the "Canadian forests in the winter". Carlos wasn't arguing.

"AH HA! I FOUND THEM CARLOS!" Cecil came running in with two cardboard boxes in his arms. He placed them on the floor and opened the first box. Inside were perfect replicas of lungs, the heart, the stomach, the brain and kidneys. Carlos grimaced, but he tried to look cheerful for Cecil.

"Wow these are very accurate replicas of human organs. These would be perfect for my model of the human body, except for the fact that they're in Christmas colours." Cecil grinned at Carlos's compliments as he pulled out a liver and went to hang it on the tree. Carlos pulled out a uterus and hung it on the tree as well. This continued on for a few hours until the tree was completely decorated with limbs and organs.

Cecil was grinning from ear to ear as he looked at the tree. It was beautiful and festive. He sighed happily and turned to see Carlos's reaction. Cecil frowned. Where was Carlos? It was then that he heard a shriek come from the bathroom. Oh yeah, he forgot to tell Carlos that all tap water was going to be a strange black gelatinous substance from 3-4 today. Oops. He calmly walked into the bathroom to find Carlos staring in horror at the toilet sludge.

"Carlos the water is supposed to be gelatinous today from 3-4. Just wait for another ten minutes and then the water should be back to normal. I thought it would take longer to decorate the tree and that we wouldn't be finished until the late evening. I didn't think that it was important to tell you considering I thought we would be decorating all afternoon."

Still keeping a watchful eye on the toilet, Carlos sighed and gave his boyfriend an apology hug. Cecil smiled and Carlos heard him murmur something that sounded like "Perfect Carlos. Always so forgiving."

_Christmas Day_

Carlos awoke to the sound of something slurping and checked the clock. It was eight in the morning and Cecil was still sleeping soundly next to him. His tattoos were writhing along his arms as they always did. Carlos reached over and gently shook Cecil; rousing him from sleep.

"Good morning perfect Carlos." Cecil greeted him with a peck on the lips. Carlos grinned and blushed at the gesture.

"It's Christmas Cecil. Shall I make us some hot chocolate before we open gifts?" His lover grinned eagerly and was out of bed before Carlos could utter another word. He grinned and followed Cecil into their living room where he was sitting eagerly in front of their tree. He quickly made the hot chocolate and brought the mugs over to his waiting lover. Cecil took his mug and placed it gently on their coffee table. It was still too hot to drink.

Underneath the tree were a bunch of presents. Some of them were from Carlos's family, while others were from Cecil's many acquaintances (including old woman Josie). Carlos picked a random gift and checked the tag. It was from his mother. He instantly tore through the paper and found a box of his mother's homemade fudge. He grinned and ate a piece. He moaned. It was perfect as usual and Carlos gave a piece to Cecil.

Cecil was next to open a gift. This particular present was from the new intern at NVCR. It was a new set of noise cancelling head phones. The gift opening continued long into the morning and soon it was time to open their gifts to each other.

Carlos reached behind his back and grabbed a small box while Cecil did the same. They stared at each other for a moment. No words were exchanged as they silently decided who would get to open their gift first. After many moments of contemplation, Cecil handed his gift to his boyfriend. Carlos took the gift and gently opened it. Inside was a microscope slide with a tiny slip of paper on it.

"You'll need to look at it under a microscope to see the gift." Carlos ran into their bedroom and grabbed his microscope and ran back into the living room. He quickly plugged it in and positioned the slide. He focused on the paper and then his whole body froze. Written in tiny elegant calligraphy, were the words: "Marry me?" Carlos turned around to see Cecil sitting there in his adorable flannel pj's, holding a box with a ring in it. Tears began to well up in Carlos's eyes. He held his hands to his mouth in shock.

"Carlos, I love you so much and I really want to spend the rest of my life with you. Besides, I think you're pretty neat." Carlos smiled and ran up and gave Cecil a huge kiss on the lips.

"Of course I'll marry you! Oh my goodness my gift is shit in comparison! I got you a new microphone for your radio show! I'm sorry Cecil!" Carlos was a complete wreck. He had tears of joy rolling down his cheeks and he was panicking.

Cecil smiled at his new fiancé in adoration. "Perfect Carlos there is no need to apologize! I needed a new microphone anyways. I love it Carlos." Cecil embraced his lover and kissed him on the forehead.

"Merry Christmas Cecil."

"Merry Christmas perfect Carlos."

A/N: The end! I hope you enjoyed! I tried to make it as cheesy as possible. I don't know if I accurately portrayed Cecil, but I gave it my best shot. Please tell me what you thought!


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